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Market town in Powys, Wales
Photo: Barry Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Machynlleth is a town in Mid Wales, generally referred to locally as "Mach". For visitors, it offers a range of activities such as mountain biking trails, and the visitor centre at the Centre for Alternative Technology.
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This internationally known centre for the development of alternative technology was founded in 1973 as a testbed for sustainable living. In 1975, it opened as a visitor centre, so that the practises developed here could be showcased to the public. The centre is a very interesting place to spend the day, especially for families. The centre shows its sustainable credentials right from the word go, as the car park and bus drop off are located at the bottom of a steep hill below the centre. Visitors use the gravity-powered cliff railway to reach the centre from here. The carriages are fitted with water tanks, which are filled at the top and emptied at the bottom, so that the heavier top car slides down the hill, pulling the other car up as it goes (via a cable and pully system). From the top station it's level walking all around the centre, taking in displays on sustainable homes, transport, water, power generation, agriculture and more. The restaurant serves good, tasty food, but don't expect burgers and hot dogs here.
Located in the centre of town, these historic buildings are believed to be built on the site of the first Welsh parliament and related buildings of that period.
Art Gallery and concert venue
A small museum of modern art - worth having a quick peak if you're in town.
Travellers passing by on the main road understandably tend to assume that this mid-18th-century stone building with its large wooden water wheel must have been a mill. In fact, the water wheel powered the bellows of a blast furnace which was used to smelt iron, and Dyfi Furnace is the best-preserved example of an 18th century charcoal-burning blast furnace in the UK. The iron ore was shipped in from Cumbria, while the charcoal to fire the furnace came from the ample local forestry. The building is well-preserved and there's plenty of interpretive displays to help you imagine what it must have looked like when it was fully functioning.
There are a number of marked trails in the Dyfi Valley, centred around Machynlleth, including the purpose-built CliMachx route.
Wildlife reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Ynyshir has interest for the ornithologist at any time of year due to its mixture of habitats, including Welsh oak woodland, wet grassland and saltmarsh. The reserve has 2 waymarked nature trails and 7 observation hides.
Wildlife reserve managed by the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust
Cors Dyfi is home to one of only 2 pairs of Osprey in Wales. The Osprey Project is open from 10AM until 6PM, April to September.
It serves fantastic food (in the restaurant or bar) that would out-compete many a top London restaurant, and the bar is also friendly toward people with well behaved dogs. It has an excellent list of unusual wines and great beers. If you can't stretch to the restaurant price tag (about £12 for a main course) then they have an excellent pizzeria at the back (the oven for which was imported from Italy).
Wholefood Cafe owned by the Centre for Alternative Technology
Two beautifully presented holiday cottages in an amazing location on a hill farm. Each cottage has two bedrooms and one also has a double sofa bed.
The Old Stables
Self-catering renovated stables.
Gwesty Dol-brod
11-bed country house hotel.
All pottery is made on the premises.
Sells gold and silver jewellery, handmade in the workshop onsite, as well as items from other manufacturers. One of the few jewellers working in Welsh gold, though these pieces can be very expensive.
Maengwyn Street. Eclectic selection of glassware, jewellery, ceramics, original paintings and prints. Well worth a browse.
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